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Friday, January 2, 2015

Happy New Year

Party Planning
There will be a party-planning meeting on January 13th at 10 in
the Club House. At that time, we would like to plan event through the
winter and into the summer time. If you are interested, please join us.

Woodcarving
continues in the Clubhouse on Wednesdays from 1:30 to 4:30 pm. The
Christmas projects were a great project. Our woodcarvers are enjoying the
new past time. New carvers are welcome. Stop in and check it out. Feel free to
call Fred Ainge with any questions at 302-751-1575. We will start carving again
on January 7th

Air Mobility
Command Museum
Some members of the community are again interested in a tour of the museum.
We are in the process of setting up a tour on January 2nd at 10.
Patti Papineau will provide tours of the museum along with other guides as
needed. There will be someone available to interested people to try the
simulator.

Men or Ladies’
luncheons will be on January 19th. The ladies’ luncheon is TBA
and the men will go to Dog Fish Head Brewery for a tour and lunch.

Exercise at
Southern Meadow
Make exercise one of your New Year’s Resolutions and join the different
groups who meet during the week. Join them all, or just the select few.
Your choice.

Frederica
Senior Center
Thank you to all the community who helped the Frederica Senior Center with
your Holiday gift giving. Your generous nature helped the Center to raise
almost $600. Thanks to all the members who went to the Christmas dinner
at the Center and presented the gift to them.

Senior Citizen
School Property Tax credit
To qualify for this property tax credit you must be age 65 or older by June
30. The property for which you are applying for the credit must be your
principal residence and your name must be on the deed. This tax credit is
equal to 50% of your school tax with a cap of $500. The amount of credit you
receive depends on the age of the persons named on the deed. Full credit
is given if you or your lawful spouse (if named on the deed) is age 65 or older.
Only partial credit is given if additional persons under age 65 are named on
the property deed. A copy of your driver’s license or birthday
certificate is required for each applicant on the application. This
one-time application must be filed with the Kent County Tax Office. If
you have questions regarding this contact: 302-744-2341. The state of Delaware
now has a three-year Residency Requirement for New Applicants. The
deadline to apply for this credit is April 30 of each tax year.

Jack Gould’s
History CornerJack’s
information comes from his book on the legendary Jim Bowie.
When James Bowie met the pirate, Jean Lafitte, in the spring of 1818, he was
not greatly impressed. The infamous Lafitte was in his late 30’s, less
than six feet tall, with a slender build of about 160 pounds. He had dark curly
hair, wore a blue shirt, with a sword in his belt and a broad brimmed hat. Jim
Bowie had heard a lot of stories about this mans’ exploits supporting the
Crescent City and had expected someone of greater stature and bravado.

The Bowie brothers, John James, Rezin Jr., and young Jim, met Mr. Lafitte at
his saloon in New Orleans (Lafitte’s Blacksmith’s Shop Bar is still there,
located on Bourbon Street). They had a business proposition for the pirate.
Jean would help them buy and move slaves from Galveston Island, Texas into
Louisiana where the slaves could be resold for twice as much. The price was
$70.00 per slave and so they could be resold for $140.00 each. By 1819,
they had transported 1,200 slaves and made a tidy sum of $168,000 with a net
profit of $84,000 which they split four ways for a nifty $21,000 each.

Once, a Captain Juan Pedro tried to cheat James Bowie by trying to sell him
underweight slaves with small pox at full price. James fought a duel (possibly
his first) with Captain Pedro where both men faced each other, knives in hand,
and pants nailed to a log floating in Galveston Bay. Bowie managed to
kill his opponent and subsequently cut the pants free so Captain Pedro’s body
could drift away. The interesting part of all this is that Jim Bowie
wasn’t particularly in favor of slavery despite his making a profit. He
only participated in this misadventure for a year for the excitement and to
actually protect the slaves (who were property back then) from marauding cannibal
tribe of Indians in East Texas who often stole the slaves.

About this time, James Bowie came upon a horrible sight while riding his
horse in the southern Louisiana Swamp. A slave owner was whipping a
young black slave named “Big Sam” who was helplessly tied to a tree. Jim told
the slave owner, ”I would not treat dog like that!” The slave owner told
Jim to move along, and not get involved. Jim quickly dismounted and advanced on
the evil man. The slave owner turned on Bowie to give him a couple lashes with
the whip, but Jim pulled out his hunting knife (not the famous Bowie Knife) and
brought it down on the slave owner’s right wrist. The slave owner yelled out,
and dropped the bullwhip. Bowie used his scarf to stop the flow of blood, put
him on his horse; and took him to the nearest surgeon who stitched his wrist.
James then paid the slave owner $100.00 for Big Sam, who stayed with Bowie
until that fateful day at the Alamo in 1836.